Hope Can Be More Powerful Than Mindfulness

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In troubling times, how do we move forward? What mindsets help us bounce back from adversity?

When the world ground to a halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, few industries felt the impact quite like the performing arts. Venues shuttered and crowds dispersed. Musicians, actors and production crews faced an unprecedented challenge: they needed to stay resilient despite the fact that their livelihood had vanished overnight.

Along with my colleagues at Clemson University and North Carolina State University, I wanted to explore what helps people persevere through such moments, so we partnered with MusiCares, a nonprofit that supports music industry professionals, to study how artists maintained their resilience during the pandemic’s darkest days. We were particularly interested in two mental approaches: mindfulness ( being present and aware in the moment ) and hopefulness (believing in and working toward a better future). In psychology, these concepts can be used to describe a general state of being, one that reflects both personality (some people are naturally more mindful or hopeful) and actions, such as regularly practicing meditation to improve one’s focus on the present. Many researchers also view mindfulness as a metacognitive process, that is, something that enables people to consciously monitor and modulate their attention, emotions and behaviors to attend to the current moment in an open and curious, nonjudgmental way. Hope, meanwhile, functions as a future-oriented state that helps people to reflect on one’s perceived ability to generate pathways around challenges.

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Mindfulness—a buzzword in wellness circles—might seem to be the obvious key to weathering a storm such as the pandemic. After all, staying grounded in the present moment seems like a good way to avoid spiraling into anxiety about an uncertain future. But our research tells a different, somewhat surprising story . Although mindfulness is a powerful tool for well-being, it does have limitations—and learning to cultivate a hopeful mindset is another critical strategy.

Our study followed 247 performers for 18 months, much of which was spent in lockdown. We asked them about their mindset and well-being at different stages of the … Read More